Father’s Age Linked to Autism

Aug. 22, 2012 -- The father’s age may matter more than the mother’s when it comes to the risk of some disorders like autism in children.

A new study shows the number of “de novo” or new genetic mutations passed to children increases with every year of the father’s age at the time of conception. And fathers pass along a greater number of these to their children than do mothers.

Researchers found the number of de novo mutations in children increases by two for every year of the father’s age. The whole amount doubles every 16.5 years.

That means a 36-year-old man passes along twice as many mutations in his sperm to his children, compared to a 20-year-old.

Previous studies have already linked these mutations to autism and schizophrenia and a variety of other developmental disorders. This study helps to quantify the potential risk.

Researchers say the findings have important implications for family planning as well as the recent rise of developmental disorders, especially autism.

“It's very likely that the increase in autism in our society of late is at least partly explained by the increase in average age of fathers,” says researcher Kari Stefansson, MD, PhD, CEO of deCODE Genetics in Reykjavik, Iceland.

“We have in many ways been led a bit astray when it comes to the impact of the age of parents,” Stefansson says. “As a society, we have been focused on the age of the mother as being detrimental, but probably the age of [the] father is more dangerous.”

Paternal Age Accounts for a Lot

The study, published in Nature, compared mutation rates in 78 Icelandic parent-offspring trios. Among the group, 44 of the children have autism spectrum disorder and 21 have schizophrenia.

Specifically, researchers looked at de novo mutation rates across the group. Researchers say these new, non-inherited genetic mutations are important for evolution and generating diversity, but they also contribute to disease.

The results showed that not only did de novo mutations increase by two for each year of the father’s age, but nearly all variation in the number of these mutations was attributable to paternal age.